Artwork - Winner

Sturt Krygsman, The Australian, "The Shaky Sheik"

Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali and his provocative words proved a rich source of inspiration for artists as well as cartoonists.

Sturt Krygsman seized on the mufti’s headwear as a representation of both his faith and his role, almost effortlessly conveying layers of symbolic meaning by showing the Sheik’s unravelling.

Rendered in watercolour and gouache, Krygsman’s image is both visually powerful and concisely meaningful.

Krygsman’s career began in the advertising world, but he joined The Sydney Morning Herald’s computer graphics department in 1988. He moved to The Australian in 1993 as an illustrator.

Krygsman has won numerous awards and has two Walkleys on his mantelpiece already for best artwork in 2000 and 2003.

Judges’ comments

This is a tough image about an Islamic dogmatist. Krygsman unravels the Sheik’s traditional headdress in his drawing, indicating the unravelling of his unacceptable stance. A great caricature and wonderfully rendered of somebody who’s probably quite hard to draw.

This is a pugnacious drawing of a pugnacious character.